Zanzui

Project Summary

The Zanzui Complex is a strongly layered circular mafic-ultramafic intrusion 12km in diameter, located 110km east of Mwanza and 70km south-west of African Eagle’s Dutwa nickel discovery. The area was first investigated in the 1980s by the UNDP, which reported high geochemical nickel anomalies and up to 1.24g/t palladium in diamond drill core samples.

African Eagle's latest drill results show that parts of the complex have a nickel and cobalt enriched laterite blanket. The grades and thicknesses appear similar to those announced by the Company from Dutwa and suggest that Zanzui is potentially another significant laterite deposit.

African Eagle has received favourable results from acid leach tests on drill samples from Zanzui by Mintek in South Africa. These show nickel recoveries averaging 71%, with very low sulphuric acid consumption, averaging 185 kilograms per tonne.

Licences

The project consists of four licences with a combined area of 358km². The Company holds 90% interests in two licences and 85% interest in the others.

Exploration History

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) explored the area extensively in the mid 1980s,conducting geophysical, geochemical and mapping work and reporting extensive geochemical nickel anomalies. While the UNDP did not routinely assay for platinum group metals (PGMs), it did analyse samples from one drill hole for these metals, reporting a single value of 1.24g/t palladium. There are also reliable reports of platinum being panned from the Ng’wangulu River on the eastern margin of the complex.

African Eagle conducted soil and stream sediment geochemical surveys over the area, returning anomalies of nickel, chromium, cobalt and PGMs, mostly over the central part of the complex. The Company also recompiled the UNDP data and conducted a ground magnetometer survey which clearly revealed the layering of the complex. To search for possible nickel sulphide mineralisation, African Eagle recently completed a helicopter VTEM geophysical survey of the complex.

Geology

The Zanzui Complex is a circular, layered ultramafic-mafic intrusion covering approximately 140km². The central part of the complex forms a low but prominent hill, which is capped by siliceous duricrust of weathered dunite.

Current Status

African Eagle recently has completed a 30 hole reverse circulation scout drilling programme for 1940m to investigate the potential for nickel laterite. The drill results show that parts of the Complex have a nickel-enriched laterite blanket with grades and thicknesses similar to those announced by the Company from its Dutwa project and suggest that Zanzui is potentially another significant laterite deposit. Intersections include:

Drill Hole	From (m)	Intersection	Nickel Grade %
ZZRC-9	0	18	1.34
ZZRC-10	9	39	0.76
ZZRC-14	9	6	1.15
ZZRC-20	9	18	1.14
ZZRC-21	9	24	0.92
ZZRC-22	18	24	1.02
ZZRC-23	12	42	1.05
ZZRC-25	9	33	0.91

To determine the suitability of the Zanzui laterite for heap/tank leaching, bottle roll acid leach tests were performed by Mintek Laboratories in South Africa on eight samples of drill cuttings, the results of which can be found here. Around 8-10kg of material from each hole was dried, blended and composited, with representative 0.5kg sub-samples of each taken for the leach tests. Each sample was placed in a glass bottle with two litres of dilute sulphuric acid and agitated continuously by rolling on rotating rollers. Leaching was complete after approximately 30 days. Nickel extractions varied between 55% and 87%, and cobalt extractions ranged from 21% to 75%, calculated from the head and residue assays. Acid consumption ranged from 140 to 250 kilograms per tonne, with an average of 190, even less than for the Dutwa laterite samples.

 

Image of magnetic field, VTEM, nickel soil geochemistry with scout drill hole locations [Enlarge]

Related Pages

Metallurgical Results
Most Significant Drilling Intervals

Zanzui fact sheet - August 2009
(PDF - 164KB)